Jon Conradi, a freshman and College Republican at Providence College, interned for Senator John McCain in New Hampshire throughout Christmas break. He describes his experiences below.
On my way to New Hampshire on December 20th the most recent polling data from the state indicated that Mitt Romney led McCain in the state. Right as I arrived in McCain’s Manchester Office a new poll had been released with Romney at 30%, McCain 30%. The tightness of the race drove every person working on the campaign from top staff to volunteer from then on.
With less money then every other front-running candidate in both parties McCain made up the difference with a personal determination and strength of personality befitting someone much younger than himself. McCain held over one-hundred town hall meetings throughout New Hampshire preceding the primary. At each of these town hall meetings the attendance was greater than at the one before. One I attended in Derry, New Hampshire was held in a location with an estimated capacity of 175 people. By the day before the event more than 250 people had RSVP’d and the day of approximately 350 people showed up to hear the senator speak. As the senator spoke and answered questions, fielded by concerned citizens not campaign plants, you could see the people being won over, not by fancy rhetoric and prepared statements, but by straight talk.
In the two weeks leading up to the primary the “McCain buzz” could be felt throughout the state as a massive wave of momentum built up behind the campaign that had once been declared dead. On every corner of the state and in every media outlet people were talking about John McCain, while simultaneously the media slammed Romney on his inconsistency. As interest in John McCain’s qualities grew so did discontent with the negative angle with which Mitt Romney approached the campaign. In one debate Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee each took turns bashing Romney and expressing their admiration of John McCain. In this environment the almost 300 volunteers on the campaign went door to door, blitzed the area with what signs could be afforded, held rallies and made over 100,000 phone calls. The greatest experience for me in New Hampshire was simply talking to average people. I had multiple phone conversations that lasted more than an hour regarding the issue of immigration which Fox News and Mitt Romney commonly attempted to use as a point of attack against McCain. I talked to a contractor currently in Iraq for nearly 45 minutes as he explained that the situation is improving dramatically and the locals he encounters daily are thankful for the presence of the Americans. On the 9th, at 5:45 after the morning of the primary I was at the Crown Plaza Hotel where the victory party occurred to load the press bus as John McCain came down for coffee. McCain left New Hampshire at 6:30 to go to Michigan and held two events there before Mitt Romney even left his hotel. That determination is what will win John McCain the nomination of the Republican Party.
